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inspiration

I was sorry to hear, a fortnight ago, of the death of film director Jonathan Demme. The tweets and obits all namechecked the films he’s best known for: The Silence of the Lambs (1991, five Oscars), Philadelphia (1993, two Oscars), and (arguably the best concert film ever) Stop Making Sense (1984). But my thoughts turned first to … Read more…

I’m a huge fan of Perth writer Amanda Curtin’s work, particularly her beautiful novels Elemental and The Sinkings. I was delighted when she asked me to contribute a guest blog post for her 2, 2 and 2 series, celebrating writers and their new books. For my 2, 2 and 2 post for Amanda, I wrote … Read more…

Like most writers, I’m a magpie, taking shiny things from the world around me and making them my own, absorbing and transforming them in my writing. So, in addition to the acknowledgements printed in the back of the book (reproduced at the bottom of this page), I wanted to acknowledge some of the sources, resources … Read more…

Writer, editor and writing blogger and teacher Roz Morris hosts The Undercover Soundtrack series, where she invites writers who use music as part of their creative environment, ‘perhaps to connect with a character, populate a mysterious place, or hold a moment still to explore its depths’. In a post for The Undercover Soundtrack (27 April 2016), I write about some of the music that helped … Read more…

The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt will be published in January 2016 by Aardvark Bureau. In this interview, Tracy Farr speaks about the inspiration behind her debut novel and its unforgettable main character, Lena Gaunt: musican, octogenarian, junkie. I have a complicated relationship with the sea…unlike Lena, I find the sea magnetic and sustaining from … Read more…

Later this month I’ll get to share a little limelight with Dame Fiona Kidman in a library author talk we’re doing together at Kilbirnie Library in Wellington: Life, Love, Fact and Fiction. I first met Fiona when I took a series of writing workshops she taught in 2000. Fiona’s been a mentor, and a champion of my … Read more…

I was thrilled to be part of the PechaKucha Night programme in Christchurch as part of WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival last month. The event featured “some of the festival’s top local and international writers presenting an eclectic range of PechaKuchas…that encompass their passions and expertise”, so the programme promised. PechaKucha 20×20 is a format where each speaker has … Read more…

I’d forgotten the gift of having time on my side. When I arrived at New Zealand Pacific Studio on 5 April, time stretched out before me. Three weeks seemed such a luxury. So I took my time: I unpacked my clothes; I stacked food on my shelf (“MASON”) in the pantry; I set up my … Read more…

Some of the most interesting responses I’ve had to my novel, The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt, have been to do with the musical instrument that Lena plays: the theremin. Readers have thought I made it up, that it couldn’t possibly be real. I’ve written a few posts about the theremin: here and here, … Read more…

Australian author Kirsten Krauth‘s debut novel, just_a_girl – it’s been described as “Lolita with a webcam” – was published by UWA Press last year to great reviews. Kirsten is also a generous and enthusiastic promoter of other debut novelists, particularly via the Friday Night Fictions feature on her blog Wild Colonial Girl. The Life and Loves of … Read more…